Audi aims to top BMW
Johannes Thammer, managing director of Audi Korea
By Kim Tae-jong, Park Ji-won
It has been only five months since Johannes Thammer took office as new managing director of Audi Korea; but he dreams of making the German brand the top local imported car in the near future.
He is very confident about his goal, saying Audi will beat its competitors ? BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which have secured the top two positions for years.
“Audi has the strategy to be the number one premium brand worldwide.
And there is no reason why we should not target all this for the Korean market. The competitors we have here are well-known competitors,” he said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.
“Audi arrived (here) more than ten years later than BMW and Mercedes.
You never change the history but you create the future.” Regarding the specific year to achieve the goal, he half-jokingly said, “I am retiring in the age of 65.
This is 2020, the very good date.” This may sound far-fetched, but Audi Korea is catching up with its rivals quickly.
Audi sold 15,126 vehicles in 2012, and was fourth in terms of sales, but what’s most impressive is its pace of sales growth, which stood at 46.2 percent year-on-year. Consequently, the gap in market share with the three brands above it has been decreasing.
Currently, four German brands ? BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Audi ? top imported car sales here with a combined market share surpassing 60 percent last year.
Thammer said Audi’s growing presence is nothing new in overseas markets. It was the most successful automaker in Germany, France and China in terms of sales volume last year.
His more than 30 years experience in various sectors of the industry from product control to marketing, brand management and after-sales service are an asset in helping him reach his goal.
Thammer started his career at Audi AG as a product control specialist in 1982. Since then, he has held various posts such as head of product marketing, head of brand management, head of the global after-sales parts division, president of the Audi China sales division, and head of Volkswagen Group’s sales strategy and projects.
But he hasn’t simply decided to sell more vehicles here; but rather to improve on overall service quality to sustain Audi’s success here.
To achieve that goal, the firm recently announced that it will focus more providing “new premium” services to Korean customers.
Under the “Audi 4 Quality” business plan for 2013, it aims at improving quality in four areas ? cars and engineering, sales, after-sales service and community engagement.
The firm will increase its number of showrooms from 19 to 23 and its number of salesmen from 520 to 600.
It also plans to launch an Audi Sales Meister program to provide premium services to customers and a Technology Campus program to teach salesmen more about its products, enabling them to provide better information.
It also plans to improve its after-sales service by increasing the number of work bays from 173 to 260 and the number of technicians from 180 to 290. The company will also strengthen training programs and open a new training center for repair staff.
Thammer strongly believed that Audi has its own strengths to compete with Japanese automakers, despite concerns over the weakening yen.
“I am not thinking that immediately the yen will influence our direct business at the moment. In the imported car market, there is a clear differentiation between the German brands and Japanese ones.
Luckily, the good image of German manufacturing and craftsmanship in combination with the image of German cars helps us a lot in Korea,” he said.
“I don’t think we have an immediately short-term influence in our business in the Korean market. If they have a benefit of deviated yen and get very cheap, they will have less premium.” He also said Korean automakers would not be influenced by the weak yen, either.
“If I would be a Korean, I compare a Korean car with a Japanese car which for me they look both Asian, similar. Why should I as a Korean, purchase a Japanese car in Korea?” he said.
Nothing to hide
Regarding an ongoing investigation by the Fair Trade Commission into major imported car brands including Audi, he said the automaker has nothing to hide.
“I think it is normally fare. If somebody is very successful, people want to understand why. And they want to check everything is white.
We have been checked, and up to now, all findings show we are right to this. That’s why I am not afraid of anything. I have been coming to Korea to develop the brand. I would be wrong to have problems with the government or the country,” he said.